For farmers' sake, the blame game must end now: Thai editorial

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
For farmers' sake, the blame game must end now
The Nation

It's time for the government to take responsibility and focus on the plight of more than a million rice growers who have fallen victim to its disastrous crop pledge

BANGKOK: -- Wealthy government politicians and their supporters have deposited several million baht in the state-run Government Savings Bank (GSB), some of them opening accounts for the very first time at this bank popular among schoolchildren and people on low incomes.

The publicity move was obviously aimed at countering a damaging run by customers on GSB deposits. The bank saw massive withdrawals totalling Bt30 billion on Monday and another Bt40 billion on Tuesday, against deposits of Bt10 billion and Bt12 billion, respectively. Most of the deposits came from state enterprises, according to sources.

The run on the bank, which is a rare phenomenon in a normal economic times like these, has been described as "punishment" by depositors on the GSB for extending an inter-bank loan of Bt20 billion to the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC). The GSB claimed the loan was given to help improve the BAAC's liquidity, but critics suspected it would go towards paying off government debts to farmers under the controversial price-pledging scheme.

Following the deposit run, GSB's board of directors on Tuesday cancelled the loan and agreed to pull back the first batch of Bt5 billion already given to the BAAC. GSB president Woravit Chailimpamontri also tendered his resignation on Tuesday, after mounting pressure over the issue. He cited distrust among GSB staff and suspicions that he was a political tool, running the bank to serve government policy.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in her television address on Tuesday, blamed the government's political enemies for its failure to repay the Bt110 billion owed to farming households. She said anti-government groups were "holding the farmers hostage" and blocking the government from implementing the scheme effectively.

On the same day, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) charged the prime minister with negligence and dereliction of duty over the rice-subsidy scheme. This could lead to criminal prosecution and impeachment proceedings if the anti-graft agency is unhappy with her explanation.

The latest moves by the government and its people, which came after angry farmers brought their protest to Bangkok and demanded immediate payment of their long-overdue debts, are unlikely to help all the farmers get the money owed to them. The government cannot expect to rely on borrowing every time it needs funding for its projects. The government has spent an estimated Bt500 billion in budget allocated to this rice-subsidy project in the past two years. But it still owes more than 1 million farming households about Bt110 billion. An estimated 15 million tonnes of rice is lying in government stockpiles, waiting to be sold. The delay has cost Thailand its status as the world's top rice exporter - it now lies third behind Vietnam and India.

The government appears to be blaming others for mistakes and mismanagement of this project. It was warned repeatedly by local and international agencies of large-scale irregularities in this loss-making scheme, but chose not to listen.

As such, the government must take the responsibility for the failure to repay debts to the farmers. The problems it is facing from desperate farmers and the anti-graft agency, among others, are self-inflicted. Borrowing to finance the loss-making rice scheme will only lead to more financial burden for the taxpayers. This is not a wise course, nor one commensurate with a responsible administration.

Anyone who genuinely wants to help the farmers would ensure that the rice-subsidy scheme is free from corruption and that sales from government stockpiles are efficient so that farmers are paid for their crops. Depositing money in the GSB and pointing the finger at the government's political enemies is unlikely to help desperate farmers.


-- The Nation 2014-02-20

[chainarong]

The first payments where due in October, so what is this blame game trash, there has to be someone held responsible , knowing the principal players, they wont take the blame , but blame everyone else, the blame game must end is all very well, exactly what the PTP want, to cover tracks and re-arrange the deck chairs, on the Thaitanic

Edited February 20, 2014 by chainarong

[Thai at Heart]

The run on the bank, which is a rare phenomenon in a normal economic times like these,

I'd hate to see an abnormal period in Thailand.....

[Fryslan boppe]

"For farmers' sake, the blame game must end now: Thai editorial"

In effect, this is a very anti-democratic headline and thought-process.

It is essentially stating that an Opposition ought to be silenced.

What does one expect, if not "blaming and criticism" from an Opposition.

This would be politically correct, if instead the headline and article discussed the necessity to take the 'blame game' to Parliament where it belongs.

Blame all ya want, and let an electorate decide who is most viable...the blamers or defenders of the policy/program.

If it is all as egregious as the Opposition indicates, the electorate will act accordingly.

[Tatsujin]

Don't tell the "public" about "blame" . . . as a reporter/newspaper, tell the Politicians and insist that they take responsibility for THEIR actions . . . hold them accountable in your reporting, name them, shame them, expose their lies and corruption, and stop making excuses for them.

[Scamper]

Indeed, the Yingluck administration's path of blaming everyone but themselves sways no one - least of all the farmers - who are wiser now than Pheu Thai ever thought possible. It's time for Yingluck to step up to the plate, go to the NACC hearing next week and answer their questions respectfully. Refusing to go and sending surrogates who are not the subject of the impeachment gives the impression of an administration that thinks it's above the law.

[englishoak]

Does this article offer a solution to actually paying the farmers now or asap ? will the protesters allow the farmers to be paid somehow asap with some loans or funding from somewhere at all ? nope

Hopeless bunch the whole lot on both sides.

[Nickymaster]

"For farmers' sake, the blame game must end now: Thai editorial"

In effect, this is a very anti-democratic headline and thought-process.

It is essentially stating that an Opposition ought to be silenced.

What does one expect, if not "blaming and criticism" from an Opposition.

This would be politically correct, if instead the headline and article discussed the necessity to take the 'blame game' to Parliament where it belongs.

Blame all ya want, and let an electorate decide who is most viable...the blamers or defenders of the policy/program.

If it is all as egregious as the Opposition indicates, the electorate will act accordingly.

A nice story but you conveniently omit the root course of the problem: Mismanagement, corruption and lies.

How can parliament deal with that?

How can the electorate deal with that?

Ever heard of a form a democracy that includes accountability?

[Suriya4]

"For farmers' sake, the blame game must end now: Thai editorial"

In effect, this is a very anti-democratic headline and thought-process.

It is essentially stating that an Opposition ought to be silenced.

What does one expect, if not "blaming and criticism" from an Opposition.

This would be politically correct, if instead the headline and article discussed the necessity to take the 'blame game' to Parliament where it belongs.

Blame all ya want, and let an electorate decide who is most viable...the blamers or defenders of the policy/program.

If it is all as egregious as the Opposition indicates, the electorate will act accordingly.

A nice story but you conveniently omit the root course of the problem: Mismanagement, corruption and lies.

How can parliament deal with that?

How can the electorate deal with that?

Ever heard of a form a democracy that includes accountability?

It is just my opinion: Farmers all over the world do not deserves subsidy from City people's tax- money. If the farmers don't earn enough, they can always increase their prices. City people will have to pay for their food one way or the other.

[siampolee]

Indeed the customers of the G.S.B. are indeed a soft target for the Shinwatra clan and their cronies in their relentless pursuit of power, corruption and money.

Those little people, the farmers low income earners and children are the hapless victims in the Shinwatra despotic evil crusade for unlimited power and wealth.

Those little people will be and indeed some are already singing this song.

Edited February 20, 2014 by siampolee

[Halion]

Here we go about the plight of the poor farmers yet again. Sad as their predicament is they got what they voted for and as a result put the rest of the country at ransom to Shiniwatra (Thaksinomics) yet now we have to feel sorry for them when it was through their partisan greed and stupidity that the PTP remained in power. Forgive , yes but never forget.

[phantomfiddler]

For the prime minister to blame the non payment of the rice on the protesters is about as low as can be got. Is she so misguided that she thinks everyone else is equally so ?

[sawadee1947]

what a stupid article..... If Suthep and his terrorists would not have tried to block the government, the farmers would have paid already....

But now: what is the solution?

[Sao Jiang Mai]

How? The scheme is, by every single account (but the gov's) untenable. So how were they supposed to pay the farmers?